John Boccieri, a former state legislator and congressman, has a huge financial advantage over the two other Democrats in the May 5 primary for the open 58th Ohio House District seat.

During the preprimary period, between Jan. 1 and April 15, Boccieri of Poland raised $68,095.67 with political action committees accounting for $65,615.67 of that money. That included $16,615.67 from the ACT (Affiliated Construction Trades) Ohio Foundation of Columbus and $10,000 from Operating Engineers Local 66, District 2 of Pittsburgh.

In addition to the contributions, Boccieri received $25,000 in loans — $8,385 from the candidate and $16,615 from his mother, Rosemary — both on Jan. 30.

Boccieri spent $30,775.98 in the preprimary period with his largest expense being $19,906.12 to ART Advisors LLC of Columbus for campaign mail, web design and advertising.

Boccieri had $64,031.81 in his fund as of April 15, which included a small amount that was remaining in his old state legislative campaign account.

Boccieri is facing Jordan Pegues of Austintown and Basia Adamczak of Youngstown in the Democratic primary. The district includes portions of Mahoning County.

Pegues reported raising $10,175 and spending $7,369.49 in the preprimary period. He had $2,805.51 left in his fund as of April 15.

Adamczak didn’t file a report. A candidate who doesn’t spend or raise $1,000 doesn’t have to file a preprimary report.

Also, Heather Fronk of Poland, the lone Republican in the state House race, didn’t file a preprimary report.

The 58th House’s Democratic primary is the only contested state legislative race in the Mahoning Valley on next week’s ballot. Incumbent state Rep. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown, is running as her party’s nominee for Mahoning County commissioner, which creates the opening.

The biggest preprimary expenses, by far, for all four Republican state House members who represent the Mahoning Valley — Tex Fischer of Canfield, Nick Santucci of Niles, David Thomas of Jefferson and Monica Robb Blasdel of New Waterford — were contributions to the Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee. OHROC is the campaign arm of the Ohio House Republican Caucus.

Thomas contributed $45,000 in the reporting period to OHROC while Robb Blasdel gave $65,000, Santucci gave $30,000 and Fischer gave $25,000.

Besides Boccieri, Santucci raised the most money in the preprimary period out of those who are seeking state House seats — and he doesn’t have a Democratic challenger in the 64th House District race. The district includes portions of Trumbull County.

Santucci raised $66,715.67 in the preprimary period with $23,150 coming from PACs and $16,615.67 from Holly Harris, founder and president of the Bipartisan Network in Washington, D.C.

Santucci paid $15,000 to R.D. Banks Chevrolet of Champion on March 31 for a vehicle “for campaign purposes,” according to his financial report.

Before that, Santucci reported two payments to Hertz — $793.31 on Feb. 18 and $437.97 on March 9 — for “campaign/legislator travel.”

Prior to this year, Santucci, who is serving his second two-year term in the state House, had only one rental car expense on any of his reports. That was $694.28 on Nov. 25 to Hertz.

With Santucci’s carryover, he had $117,640.31 in his campaign fund as of April 15.

Thomas raised $38,037.44 with $18,700 coming from PACs in the preprimary period.

He spent $63,930.66 in the period.

Thomas had $32,590.54 in his fund as of April 15.

Democrat Lorna J. Westlake of Austinburg, who will challenge Thomas for the 65th House District seat in November, didn’t file a preprimary report. The district includes portions of Trumbull and Ashtabula counties.

Fischer raised $5,150 with all but $250 from PACs in the preprimary period.

He spent $27,997.98 in the preprimary period.

Fischer had a $77,937.99 surplus as of April 15.

Democrat Wayne J. Penny of Canfield, who is challenging Fischer for the 59th House seat in November, didn’t file a preprimary report.

The district includes Mahoning County and a small part of Columbiana County.

Blasdel reported raising $9,391 and spending $72,348.29 in the preprimary period. She had $53,268.22 in her fund as of April 15.

Bob Guy of East Liverpool, her Democratic challenger, reported raising $100, which came from him, and spending nothing in the preprimary period.

The 79th House District includes most of Columbiana and all of Carroll counties.

In the 33rd Senate District race, incumbent Republican Al Cutrona of Canfield reported raising $10,950 with $7,250 coming from PACs in the preprimary period.

Between Jan. 1 and April 15, Cutrona spent $23,126.83 with his largest expense being a $16,615.67 contribution to Republican Jay Edwards, who is running for state treasurer.

Cutrona had a $263,142.80 surplus in his fund as of April 15, largely because of money carried over from previous reporting periods.

Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown, Cutrona’s Democratic challenger, reported raising $14,240.89 and spending $6,605.72 in the preprimary period. He had $7,635.17 in his fund as of April 15.

The 33rd Senate District includes all of Mahoning, Columbiana and Carroll counties.

State Sen. Sandra O’Brien, R-Lenox, didn’t have to file a preprimary campaign because she isn’t on the ballot. O’Brien represents the 32nd Senate District, which includes all of Trumbull and Ashtabula counties and most of Geauga County.

O’Brien’s term ends Dec. 31, 2028, and she cannot run for reelection in two years under the state’s term-limits law.